The Landscape of the Photography Industry [INFOGRAPHIC]

Have you ever wondered about how a picture actually gets created by a photographer and then distributed through mainstream media? The process happens to be far more complicated than snapping a photo and posting it on Facebook. Fortunately, Taylor Davidson, Director of kbs+ Ventures, has provided a great map of the adventurous world of photography for analysis and strategic planning. The entire layout of the photography industry including camera and phone manufacturers, editing applications, post production services, stock photo agencies, photo management sites and social sharing networks, is charted.

The photography industry has gone through a revolution over the past 5-10 years as the introduction of digital cameras, smartphones, social media platforms, and the cloud have created massive opportunities and disruptions in the industry. 380 billion photos were taken in 2012; for context, that’s 4 times as many as just 10 years ago, and it’s 10% of the total amount of photos ever taken.

The goal of the graphic is to follow the flow of photos from the creators (pro and amateur) through distribution via people, consumers, brands, marketers, buyers and publishers. Each bucket (like camera manufacturers, editing tools, etc.) groups similar companies of focus, in an order from left to right, as to map the entire journey of an image from creation to its destination. Taylor adds, “It’s not meant to be exhaustive in naming all the companies in each bucket, but directional in capturing the main players that exist today.”

For photographers, the landscape can be used as a basis for strategy and as a guide to identify new opportunities and websites of value!